Water ski towing gear



Jul 3, 1962 E. E. ROBERTS 3,041,996

WATER SKI TOWING GEAR Filed April 9, 1959 FIG.|

INVENTOR. EDWIN E. ROBERTS ATTORNEYfi United States Patent 3,041,996WATER SKI TOWING GEAR Edwin E. Roberts, 14312 11th SW., Seattle, Wash.Filed Apr. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 805,234 1 Claim. (Cl. 114- 235) The presentinvention relates to improved gear for dragging and retrieving a waterski tow line.

It has been common practice in the water ski towing art to transfer theload from the tow line to the boat via a sheave working on a bridlewhich is mounted at the stern. The sheave travels back and forth on thebridle as the skier traverses the wake of the boat and thus smoothlyshifts the tow load accordingly. This towing gear has heretofore had thedisadvantage that the tow line was retrieved to the boat by hand andoften became tangled while being stored or played out. The presentinvention aims to provide improved gear whereby a reel can beconveniently used with bridleand-sheave tackle for storing, retrievingand playing out a water ski tow line.

Furthermore, the invention aims to provide such improved tow line gearin which the reel is relieved of the towing strain and there isvirtually no possibility of the tow line becoming tangled or fouling thebridle.

Other more particular objects and advantages will, together with thesegeneral objects, appear and be understood in the course of the followingdescription and claim, the invention consisting in the novelconstruction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a boat with the improved waterski towing gear of the present invention in operation.

FIG. 2 corresponds to FIG. 1 and shows the gear when the skier has swungto starboard.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the sheave and related socket and towline assemblies.

FIG. 4 is a view corresponding to FIG. 3 and showing a modifiedembodiment; and

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the stop assembly of thefirst embodiment together with a portion of the tow line.

FIG. 6 is a detail of the elastic takeup means.

Referring to the drawings, the invention is shown in opeartive positionon a boat 10 which may be either inboard or outboard powered. Aconventional bridle 12 formed with terminal eyes 13 is mounted on theboats transom 11 as by J-bolts 14 and has a sheave 15 working thereon.This sheave is journaled on the cross-pin 16 of a clevis 17 which inturn is swivel-connected at its web to a socket fitting 18 by a headedpin 19. This fitting has an internally tapered through-socket 20 withits longitudinal axis at cross-angles to an integral prolongation 21which fixedly receives the shank of the pin 19. The ski tow line,denoted 22, threads through the socket 20 and passes therefrom forwardlythrough a tubular guide insert 23 in the transom for connection to areel 24. This guide has its opening purposely larger in diameter thanthe minimum internal diameter of the socket 20.

To limit playout of the tow line without strain on the reel I provide atow line with a stop which can pass through the insert 23 but notthrough the socket 20. This stop may take the form of a tapered plug 25locked on the tow line and adapted to seat in the socket 20 as bestshown in FIG. 3. The tow line is commonly of hollow braided nylonconstruction in which case I introduce a rigid tapered core 26 thereinby inserting it between strands. This can be readily accomplished bylongitudinally compressing the line such that the strands thereof bulgeoutwardly and thereby spread further apart as represented at the left ofthe core in FIG. 5. When in operation the plug wedges over the core andradially compresses the tow line so that the plug and core are lockedagainst lengthwise movement relative thereto.

The reel 24 for the ski tow line has its spool journaled in a shaft 27which cantilevers from a mounting bracket 28 and has a wing nut 29 foradjustably friction tensioning the spool. The bracket is screwed orotherwise secured to the side or a rib of the boat in a position to giveconvenient use of the folding-type handle 30 of the reel and far enoughforward to permit functioning between the reel and guide 23 of a length31 of rubber tubing or some other suitable elastic material for slacktake-up of that portion of the two line between the sheave 15 and thereel. The takeup means 31 is tied or otherwise secured at its ends tothe spool and tow line and is represented by a single heavy line inFIGS. 1-2 to clearly distinguish it from the tow line.

In the operation of the gear to play out the tow line for the skier itis only necessary to loosen the wing nut 29 so that the spool of thereel is free to unwind and thread through the guide 23 and socket 20responsive to the skiers pull on the terminal handle 32 of the line.This is usually done at low boat speed with the skier dead in the wateror seated on a dock. Then, just as the stop 25 is observed approachingthe socket 20 the boat engine is usually immediately opened up to skiingspeed. By this time the stop 25 is seated in the socket 20 and takes thefull pull of the skier on the tow line, thereby relieving the reel. Asbefore mentioned, the purpose of the elastic member 31 is to constantlytake up slack between the socket 20 and the reel so that the bridle 12cannot be fouled thereby. The maximum stretch of the takeup means occurswhen the sheave 15 has traveled to the end of the bridle opposite fromthe reel side of the boat as shown in FIG. 2, and the takeup means canbe substantially relaxed when the sheave occupies a position at theother end of the bridle. Thus the member 31 has to have a stretchcapacity corresponding to the travel range of the sheave. Actually,therefore, the stop 25 does not seat at the end of the line play outwhen the sheave is centered (FIG. 1) until the takeup means is partiallystretched.

When it is desired to retrieve the tow line as when the skier hasfallen, the boat operator merely turns the handle 30 to rewind the lineon the spool. The elastic member 31 is made strong enough to resist theslight pull of the tow line and its handle 32 in the water during theinitial part of the reeling operation, or a coiled stretch limit cord 33is provided within the elastic tube as shown in FIG. 6. This cord 33 isanchored at its ends in terminal plugs 34. The tow line end of themember 31 can be inserted into the hollow tow line and secured by tapeor winding 35. It is preferred to have the outer end of the bore of theguide 23 flared so that the stop 25 can readily pass therethrough and sothat the tow line will not be subjected to a sharp edge. At the close ofskiing the tow line can be reeled in to the point that the tow linehandle engages the socket 20 and pulls the sheave 15 along the bridle 12until it is pulled against the mouth of the guide 23. The thumb nut 29is then tightened to lock the reel whereupon the tow line is not onlycompactly stored, but the sheave and its related assembly together withthe tow line handle are held against the transom so that they cannotflop around.

In FIG. 4 I have shown a modified embodiment wherein the tow line stopis provided by knotting the tow line at 36 and the socket therefor isprovided by an eye 37 swiveled by the pin 19. This eye has its openinglarge enough to pass the tow line but smaller than the stop knot 36.

The advantages of the invention, it is thought, will have been clearlyunderstood'from the foregoing detailed description of the illustratedprefered embodiment. Minor changes will suggest themselves and may beresorted to Without departing from the spirit of the invention,wherefore it is my intention that no limitation be implied and that thehereto annexed claim be given a scope fully commensurate with thebroadest interpretation to which the employed language admits.

What I claim is:

Water ski towing gear comprising, be mounted at the stern of a boat, asheave working on said bridle, a through-socket defining member carriedby said sheave, a Water ski tow line threaded through said socket, anelastic member connected by one of its ends to said line, line reelingmeans operatively connected to the other end of said elastic member, anda stop on said a bridle adapted to line between said socket and saidelastic member for seating in said socket while said line is towing awater skier whereby said reeling means is relieved of ski towing strainon said line, said elastic member taking up any slack in said linebetween said stop and said reeling means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

